"Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors."

Andrew Boy

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[MomZombie]

Yesterday I was stuck in a two-hour traffic standstill outside Joliet, Ill. I was next to a convoy of cattle trucks, no doubt these poor creatures on their way to slaughter. As I watched the wet noses poke through the metal opening gasping for fresh air, their dry tongues extended in hopes of an errant raindrop, I understood these animals were suffering. I wanted to get out of the car and unlatch every door and let them all free. Then I realized that would not save them as they would not know what to do on a interstate highway. I realized there was no immediate way to save them. Instead I whispered that I was sorry for the ways of our world. I took a moment to think about how I could lessen harm and suffering by monitoring my own actions. That's all I can do.